Apr 10 2018
From The Space Library
RELEASE 18-025 NASA Announces New Chief Scientist
Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot has named the Science Mission Directorate’s Planetary Science Division Director Jim Green as the agency's new chief scientist, effective May 1. He succeeds Gale Allen, who has served in an acting capacity since 2016 and will retire after more than 30 years of government service.
"I want to thank Gale for all she has done for the agency and, for the past few years, in the Office of the Chief Scientist. Gale had an amazing career and is a role model to so many. I wish her the best in retirement,” Lightfoot said. “I’m excited to have Jim take on this new role. He brings a variety of scientific research experience and planetary exploration expertise to the chief scientist position that will allow him to hit the ground running with great enthusiasm and engagement.”
Green will represent the agency's strategic science objectives and contributions to the national and international science communities. He also will serve as principal advisor to the NASA administrator and other senior officials on agency science programs, strategic planning, science policy, and the evaluation of related investments.
Green took on his current position as the director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in August 2006. During his 12 years in this role, he managed numerous successful missions from Mercury to Pluto that have ushered in a golden age of planetary exploration. These missions include: the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; Mars rovers Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity; and the New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond. Currently, he is engaged in preparations and negotiations for a variety of future NASA science missions, such as the next Mars lander and rover, and the Europa Clipper, as well as missions with international partners.
With Green’s departure from the Planetary Science Division, Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, has named Lori Glaze to the position of acting director. Since 2017, Glaze has served as the chief of the Planetary Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Prior to that, she served as the deputy director of Goddard's Solar System Exploration Division.
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-057 NASA Invites Media to Launch of GRACE Follow-On Spacecraft
Media accreditation now is open to cover the launch of NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission – twin satellites that constitute the agency’s latest Earth-observing mission.
GRACE-FO will continue the task of the original GRACE mission, providing critical measurements that will be used with other data to monitor the movement of water masses across the planet and mass changes within the Earth itself. Monitoring changes in ice sheets and glaciers, underground water storage and sea level provides a unique view of Earth’s climate and has far-reaching benefits.
GRACE-FO will launch as part of a commercial rideshare mission with five Iridium Communications Inc. satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The Iridium-6/GRACE-FO launch is scheduled for no earlier than 1:03 p.m. PDT (4:03 p.m. EDT) May 19 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Media who are interested in covering the launch at Vandenberg can apply by emailing media@spacex.com.
Media who are foreign nationals or green card holders must complete an online application and provide a photocopy of their passport to media@spacex.com no later than 2 p.m. PDT Monday, April 16. Media who are U.S. citizens must apply online no later than 2 p.m. Sunday, May 13.
Vandenberg Air Force Base security will have final authority to decide which media are credentialed to cover launches, and submitting the request by the deadline does not guarantee approval.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the GRACE-FO mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, under the direction of the Earth Systematic Missions Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The spacecraft were built by Airbus Defence and Space in Friedrichshafen, Germany, under subcontract to JPL. The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences contracted GRACE-FO launch services from Iridium. GFZ has subcontracted mission operations to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which operates the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
Additional details on the mission and prelaunch media activities will be announced closer to the launch date.
